​Brazilians tired of taking to the streets ahead of World Cup

Mauricio Savarese has been a journalist since 2003, and holds an MA in Interactive Journalism from the City University London. A former reporter for Reuters, Yahoo! and Brazil news websites UOL and Globo.com, he blogs on Latin American affairs. He has covered two Olympic Games, presidential elections in Brazil and abroad, a papal conclave and general news stories. He spent three years as a correspondent, half of this time in Brasilia on political stories and the other half in London. He has contributed to RT since the June protests in Brazil, both in English and Spanish. He is also a partner in The Conteudo, a web content agency in Sao Paulo, and a freelance journalist specializing in politics and sport.

Members of the group called Black Bloc shout slogans during a protest against the 2014 World Cup in Sao Paulo in this February 22, 2014 file photo (Reuters / Paulo Whitaker) / Reuters

Fears that a tense World Cup will take place amid demonstrations of millions of Brazilians and heavy security operations by an unreliable police force, after the fuss of the last few months, may not materialize.

Recent polls and smaller protests in the streets of Rio de
Janeiro and São Paulo show the enthusiasm for marches, picketing
and in some cases vandalism is waning in the host country of
football’s most important tournament.

In June, when the massive protests kicked off, polster Datafolha
said astonishing 81 percent of Brazilians were in favour of the
demonstrations – which began to oppose a rise in transport fares
and ended up as a channel for all the grievances in the country.
That support has now dropped to 52 percent. Now 42 percent are
against taking to the streets at all, a big increase on the 15
percent of the population who opposed the demonstrations when the
country hosted the 2013 Confederation Cup.

The polling numbers were obtained after February 10 amid heavy
commotion. Brazil was still in shock after the accidental death
of a cameraman, hit on the head by a mortar thrown by protesters
in Rio. Most middle-class supporters that thickened the
demonstrations in the middle of 2013 are now back in their homes.
Since June, many of them gave up protesting after a heterogenous
group using violent “black block” tactics infiltrated
peaceful protests.

Brazilian police have a habit of carrying out arbitrary arrests
and very likely to be just as violent against peaceful
protesters. Add that to “black block” protesters
throwing rocks at banks, public buildings and the police. The
result, the polls show, is waning interest from the average
Brazilian. In the next few weeks the results could be even less
thrilling for demonstrators, since police succeeded in
pre-emptively arresting 260 people on Saturday in a Minority
Report-like incident.

Another poll showed other interesting results about what the
soul-searching Brazilians are thinking before their country hosts
the World Cup. It comes out at a moment the Brazilian government
is trying to stimulate some pride for hosting the World Cup.
Pollster MDA says 85 percent of respondents believe there will be
protests during the World Cup. But only 15 percent said they
would take part in them.

There is usually some bitterness before big sporting events and
Brazilians are showing that too. As four World Cup stadiums are
still at risk and as protesters reject the high spending on the
organization of the tournament, 51 percent of locals say they
wouldn’t support a bid to host the World Cup if was launched
today, MDA says.

The federal government and President Dilma Rousseff, the favorite
to win re-election in October, are betting on their propaganda
and the size of the event to boost their popularity – as does
FIFA, a body surrounded by controversies and corruption
allegations that has been troubled by Brazil’s slow pace in
sorting its bottlenecks related to World Cup infrastructure.

The lack of enthusiasm Brazilians have shown towards protests is
probably good news for a leader who wants to remain in power. But
in South America’s powerhouse these revolts have been brewing for
a long time, and they really caught experts off guard. They might
be cooking now again. A little sparkle could still bring blazing
fire to Brazilian streets again.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.